Florian, Torquay.
* * * * *
Replies to Minor Queries.
_Derivation of the Word "Island_" (Vol. viii., p. 49.).--I have received
through the kindness of Hensleigh Wedgwood, Esq., a copy of the
_Philological Journal_ for Feb. 21, 1851, in which my late observations on
the etymology of the word _island_ are shown to be almost identical with
his own, published more than two years ago, even the minutest particulars.
His own surprise on seeing my remarks must have been at least as great as
my own, on learning how singularly I had been anticipated; and those of
your readers who will refer to the number of the journal in question, will
be doubtless as much surprised as either of us.
This coincidence suggests two things: first, the truth of the etymology in
question, secondly, the excellency of that spirit which (as in this
instance) "thinketh no evil;" and, in so close a resemblance of ideas as
that before us, rather than at once start a charge of plagiarism, will
believe that it is possible for two persons, with similar habits of
thought, to arrive at the same end, and that, too, by singularly identical
means, when engaged on one and the same subject.